


Heart of Gold

by barbitone



Series: Voltron Fanfiction [40]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Firefly AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Prostitution, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 22:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18352619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barbitone/pseuds/barbitone
Summary: Lotor gets a call from a friend, the crew of the Black Lion are eager to help.





	Heart of Gold

**Author's Note:**

> In comes Acxa and a bit more about the Companion's Guild!
> 
> At this point I'm just making things up, folks. My version of the guild is definitely a lot darker than what we see in the series, but tbh I'm betting if Firefly would have gone on for longer we would have found out about some Shady Shit.
> 
> As usual, translations for Chinese phrases are at the end.

 

* * *

  
****

Lotor was returning from an engagement when he received the message. He opened it immediately, smiling at the face that filled his screen.

“Hello _meimei,”_ he said.

“Hello _aiah,”_ Acxa answered.

“It’s been a long time. How are you?”

“As well as can be expected,” she said with a sigh.

“I doubt you called just to catch up,” Lotor said. “What’s the matter? What happened?”

Acxa sighed again, looking away for a moment before turning her attention back to him. “You know I wouldn’t call on you if it weren’t important. You know I wouldn’t put you at risk like that.”

“Of course.”

“One of my girls has… gotten herself into trouble.”

“What sort of trouble?"

“The pregnancy sort,” Acxa said, wrinkling her nose. “The father is the Lord around these parts, and he’s gotten it into his head to take the babe for his own. He’s- he’s a right bastard, _aiah._ I can’t let that happen.”

“What do you need, _meimei?”_ Lotor asked.

“Nothing short of a miracle,” Acxa said. “But you’ve always got a few of those up your sleeves, don’t you?”

“I try,” Lotor said with a smile.

“I need to get her and the baby out of here, soon as possible,” Acxa said. “She’s due to give birth in a month or so, and he’s threatened-” she winced, looking away.

“It’s going to be alright,” Lotor assured her. “I’ll come, _meimei._ You know I’ll come for you.”

Acxa smiled. “Thank you. We’ll be waiting.”

 

* * *

 

Shiro and his crew didn’t need much convincing, and a week later they were landing in the desert next to the Heart of Gold, Acxa’s modest brothel.

Acxa rushed forward to greet them, wrapping Lotor up in her arms with a laugh. “Hello, _aiah,”_ she said with her face pressed to his chest.

“Thank you for coming,” Acxa said, looking at the rest of the crew. “We’ve come upon some hard times, and it’s good to see there’s kind folks still out there- ready to come to our aid.”

“Of course,” Shiro said as he stepped forward to shake her hand. “We’ll be glad to help, and with such a simple thing.”

Acxa smiled. “The girls have prepared a fine dinner for all of you- please join us. In the morning you’ll depart, but until then- come feast.”

“I ain’t never turned down a feast,” Zethrid muttered as Ezor stepped up beside her, and even Keith seemed a little perkier than usual.

Lotor followed Acxa back into the main part of the brothel, trying not to wince at the way the young men and women looked at him- with awe and admiration. He didn’t deserve it, he was no more special or important than any of them, he was simply better paid and better dressed.

“It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a living,” Acxa muttered self-consciously, glancing over at Lotor as he took in his surroundings.

“Not you too, _meimei,”_ Lotor said with a smile. “You don’t really think I’m putting on airs, do you? This is a fine place, it’s admirable what you’ve done here.”

“And what’s that?” Shiro asked.

“This place used to be a _fay-fay duh pee-yen,_ ” Acxa said, a touch of pride entering her voice. “I came to work here when I was down on my luck. Back then it was run by a real _kuh-ooh duh lao bao jurn._ He’d take liberties with the girls and let his friends do it too. He didn’t pay proper, and he didn’t keep the place up to any kind of civilized standards.

“I organized the girls and we forced him out. He showed up with his posse to take the place back so I slit that bastard’s throat and took charge around here, improved things, raised rates and made sure everyone was taken care of. The townsfolk grumbled a while, but the next nearest brothel is three moons away so they fell into line. Mostly.”

“The Lord?” Ezor asked curiously.

“Bah,” Acxa grumbled. “The real Lord was a decent man, but he died a while back. This is his son, a spoiled _ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_. We’ll show him right quick he can’t push us around. But enough business talk,” she said as she led them into a large central room. There was a big dining table set up in the center already laden with food and drink, and couches and lounge chairs set up around the edges of the room, like they’d been hastily shoved aside.

“Please- sit down,” Acxa said.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Pidge said with a grin while the rest of Shiro’s crew sat down. The residents of the Heart of Gold filled in the rest of the seats, and when those were full they made themselves comfortable on the couches.

Dinner was a lively affair. Acxa held court, telling stories about past clients, past problems. Shiro had a fair few of his own stories to share, and then Zethrid and Ezor chimed in and by the time dessert came around everyone was laughing.

Afterwards Acxa caught Lotor’s eye and he followed her up to her room and the small balcony overlooking the yard. She was smiling as she lit a pipe and took a deep drag before offering it over.

“It’s good to see you again,” she said as she watched him smoke.

The spiced tobacco made Lotor’s head spin pleasantly and he smiled as he handed the pipe back. “And you, of course.” He sighed as he looked up at the stars, so bright out here away from cities and glaring lights. “Do you ever regret it?”

Acxa snorted, blowing smoke out of her nose. “What, leaving the guild in disgrace for a man that ended up cheating on me and leaving me stranded on some _shee-niou_ moon not two months later?” She took another drag as she looked out at the desert.

“Sometimes,” she said quietly. “Sometimes, when times are hard, and I’m going hungry so my girls and boys have something to eat. When I have to sell another bit of jewelry that reminds me of warmer times just so we can buy water. And sometimes…”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “There’s a man, a stable hand at a neighboring farm. We bring him ‘round every once in a while to fix things up around here. He looks at me like I’m something precious, and I know if I wanted to… I could be with him and no one could stop me. At those times, I don’t regret it at all.”

She smiled and Lotor took the pipe out of her hands to take another drag.

“We all have an expiration date anyway,” Acxa said. “I just reached mine a little earlier than expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean- have you ever seen a Companion older than let’s say… forty?”

Lotor drew back in surprise. “No,” he said quietly. “Only… only Lady Haggar, and a few of the instructors back at the guild.”

“Right. There’s them, and a few wash out- like me. A few are sold off for good, concubines to rich men in the Core. But what of the rest?”

“Maybe they put us out to pasture,” Lotor said with a smile.

“Right,” Acxa laughed. “Imagine- a planet full of aging Companions. Wandering around, playing checkers. Bearing all the secrets of their respective clans, all their skills, just waiting for a ship of bandits to come along so they can blab it all. Somehow I doubt it.”

“You’re not suggesting they _kill_ us,” Lotor said.

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Acxa said with a shrug. “I’m just making an observation. But… you know for yourself, by now, that the marketing isn’t the reality.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lotor forced himself to say.

“Don’t kid yourself,” Acxa laughed. “Haven’t you ever taken a client you weren’t excited about? Haven’t you ever felt a duty to go through with an encounter you wished you could just put an end to? You’re just as much of a whore as I am, _aiah_.”

“I know,” Lotor whispered.

Acxa took one last drag on the pipe before knocking the ash out. “But as far as your real question goes- I don’t know. I don’t know what you should do, if it’s worth it for you to leave the guild for your Captain. That’s something you have to decide for yourself.”

Lotor looked down and Acxa drew closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“But I have to say… Standing up? Taking ownership of myself, chasing the things I wanted? That part I’ve never regretted. You won’t either, soon as you figure out what it is you want to be chasing.”

Lotor swallowed and ran a hand through his hair, feeling suddenly shaky and unsettled.

“Hey,” Acxa said with a grin. “Wanna fuck? It'll be just like old times.”

“I think I’ll pass tonight,” he said dryly.

Acxa laughed. “What, afraid you’ll lose?”

“Sex isn’t a sport, _meimei.”_

“Isn’t it?” Acxa asked, raising an eyebrow. “We’re the best in the game, you and I. Seems a shame to waste it on amateurs.”

“Good night,” Lotor laughed and pressed a kiss to her temple before turning to go.

He was meant to be sharing a room with Zethrid and Ezor, but they were off somewhere no doubt having a sinful amount of fun with the other girls. He sat down on the bed, feeling too unsettled to sleep. Instead he thought about what Acxa had said. He thought about what he wanted to chase, what he wanted at all.

He’d never really considered it, not seriously.

What did he want?

Freedom, mostly. And he’d gotten that, hadn’t he? He was free of Sendak, free of the politics of the guild, the Core. He only took a few clients a month these days, inventing the rest and paying off the guild with his savings or whatever cut he got from the various nefarious dealings the crew of the Black Lion got up to.

He was more free than he’d ever been, but there was still something missing, and he knew exactly what it was. Who it was. Would it really be so bad to just- just…

Before he quite knew what he was doing he was standing and leaving the room, his heart thudding loudly in his chest. It was almost a surprise to find himself standing in front of Shiro’s door and he hesitated for a long time, too afraid to knock. He bit his lip as he slowly realized he couldn’t- he couldn’t do it.

And then the door opened and Shiro was there, looking at him.

He didn’t seem surprised. If anything it seemed like Shiro had been waiting for him. Lotor stepped closer almost despite himself and Shiro set a hand on the back of his neck and wordlessly pulled him inside.

He shut the door and pressed Lotor up against it, taking his face in both hands. Lotor shivered at the contrast of hot and cold, at the intent way Shiro was looking at him. The moment was charged and trembling and he was too afraid to speak lest he ruin it. The room was so quiet, the sounds of ongoing merrymaking elsewhere in the building seemed far away, like they were happening in some other galaxy.

Lotor licked his lips and Shiro’s eyes followed the movement, and then he was leaning closer to press their foreheads together.

“Why now,” Shiro whispered. “Why tonight.”

Lotor licked his lips again, trying to gather the courage to speak. “I just wanted… I just wanted something. Just for tonight. Just this once.”

Shiro smiled, and when he spoke again Lotor felt his breath ghosting over his lips.

“And what if I said… just this once ain’t enough for me?”

Lotor froze, even more afraid now than before, when he’d been waiting alone outside.

Shiro pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth before pulling back. “I can wait for you, long as you need. But I can’t do this by half measures, sweetheart. I can wait for you- but I can’t have a part of you just to lose you again.”

Lotor exhaled sharply before turning to leave, scrambling a little desperately for the doorknob. Shiro grabbed him from behind and wrapped his arms around Lotor’s chest to make him still.

“Hey,” he whispered into Lotor’s ear. “It’s alright. You don’t need to be so scared. You’re not ready yet. That’s alright. I’ll be here when you are. When it’s more than just this once. When it’s real.”

Lotor bit his lip and set his forehead to the door, torn between Shiro’s arms around him and everything else. “I’m sorry.”

“Hush,” Shiro said gently. “No need to be sorry. You can still stay tonight, if you want. Not for… _that._ But to sleep. I won’t ever turn you away.”

“I should go,” Lotor said. “I should- I shouldn’t have come.”

“I’m glad you did,” Shiro said, still holding him tight. “Had a feeling you would. You’re always welcome, you know. Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I should just be happy with scraps, should be grateful you even wanted me tonight at all. But I can’t. I just can’t. I want everything or nothing. I can’t do it any other way.”

“I’m sorry,” Lotor said again, biting his lip in the hopes that it would still his trembling.

“You don’t need to be,” Shiro said, and finally stepped back to let him go.

Somewhere far away there was a strange sharp sound and Shiro tilted his head to the side, his eyes widening.

“What-” Lotor asked.

“Get _down,”_ Shiro hissed and pulled him to the floor just before a hail of bullets pierced the door where they’d been standing.

Lotor yelped as he covered his head with his arms, trying to shield his face from the falling debris, splinters and dust. Shiro was already crawling to the window before peeking up to see what was going on. “Gorram rich kids,” he hissed, raising his hand up to his ear to activate his comms. “Sound off-- is everyone alive and in one piece?”

Lotor made his way carefully to the window while Shiro listened intently.

“Are they-”

“Everyone’s fine,” Shiro said.

Lotor peeked through the window to see nearly a dozen men, armed to the teeth. The leader was standing in some hovering transport holding a machine gun.

“I want my child!” he yelled. “I want my child even if I have to cut it out of that doxy’s guts!”

The front door of the brothel slammed open and Acxa stormed out, setting her hands on her hips. “You’d best go on home now, Sniv. Before I get cross with you.”

“I’m not leaving without my child,” Sniv said, and at his signal his men leveled their guns at her.

 _“Meimei,”_ Lotor whispered, his heart stuttering with fear.

“Pidge and Narti,” Shiro said into the comms. “Get back to the ship. Keith and Ezor, I want you up on the roof. Zethrid- meet me downstairs.

“How’s your aim?” Shiro asked, turning to Lotor.

Lotor swallowed nervously. “At this distance? Not so bad.”

“Great,” Shiro said, shoving a gun into Lotor’s hands. “We can take this asshole and his cronies- steady now.”

“Wait- what are you-” but Shiro was already gone.

Lotor took a calming breath, trying to focus on his heartbeat, trying to hold the gun steady in his sweating hands.

“What’s all this?” Shiro asked as he and Zethrid walked out to stand to either side of Acxa below. “Surely you ain’t here to hassle this fine lady?”

Sniv’s men shared a nervous look at this new development. They’d been expecting to face a house full of terrified women, not Shiro and his dangerous grin and Zethrid’s giant fists.

“This ain’t your fight, boy,” Sniv said slowly. “But if you stand between me and what’s mine- it will be.”

“Nothing in my place is _yours_ ,” Acxa said before spitting on the ground. “You’d best turn around and go while you can still walk.”

“I’d listen to the lady, if I were you,” Shiro said, still smiling. “We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

It must have been some signal because a gunshot rang out and Sniv dropped his gun with a yelp.

Sniv roared in anger. “Get them!” he yelled.

Shiro shoved Acxa behind him as he raised his pistol, and then the men were _firing_ at him and Lotor raised his own gun without quite understanding what he was doing. He heard Shiro’s grunt as he fell, thrown back by a bullet to his chest. Everything went slow and silent. Shiro was lying still on the ground and Lotor pulled the trigger, aiming at one of Sniv’s men. He went down and Lotor didn’t have time to think about what he’d just done, he aimed at the next, only to have him fall to another’s bullet, and then he was picking another target, and another-

There was the rushing of wind and suddenly the yard was lit up with bright lights- the Black Lion was there, hovering over the modest building.

 _“Stand down,”_ Pidge announced over the loudspeaker. _“Before I blow you all to hell.”_

The Black Lion didn’t have any weapons, but Sniv’s men didn’t know that. They turned to run but Lotor only had eyes for Shiro, laying in the sand-

Shiro coughed and groaned as he sat up, and then he dug into the bullet hole marring his coat and pulled out a twisted piece of iron.

“Damn,” he muttered, “that was my good armor.”

Lotor sagged to the floor, breathing hard. He was safe. Shiro was safe. They were all safe.

Slowly what he’d done washed over him- he’d killed a man, maybe more. He’d killed for Shiro.

But it was alright now, Sniv’s men were leaving. It was alright, they were going to be alright.

“Fuck,” he whispered vehemently. He hadn’t meant to be dragged in so deep, but here he was anyway.

_“Fuck.”_

  


_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> Meimei - Sister  
> Aiah- big brother  
> fay-fay duh pee-yen - baboon's ass-crack  
> kuh-ooh duh lao bao jurn - horrible old tyrant  
> ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng - frog-humping son of a bitch  
> Shee-niou - cow sucking
> 
> I swear I'm almost done jerking you around. Next up- Sendak's return >.>
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [barbitone](http://barbitone.tumblr.com/) and pillowfort also at [barbitone](https://www.pillowfort.io/barbitone)


End file.
